This is for web 3 companies and protocols that sell B2B - which could mean selling to other centralized or decentralized crypto businesses.

What sort of projects are B2B?  A few examples are infrastructure solutions, service providers, and even L1s and L2s.  Any project that relies mostly on onboarding businesses and protocols would be defined as B2B.  

First off, what’s my experience with B2B?  

Obviously you don’t want to listen to someone who’s never sold B2B before…

First, I built a 15 person marketing agency that worked with some of the top e-commerce brands and course sellers - our agency services were high-ticket B2B with retainers going up all the way to 30k/month.  I’ve sold something to the tune of a few million $$$ worth of high-ticket services.

At my current position as CMO at Builder Capital, I also have acted as fractional CMO for GoGoPool and Helika that are highly B2B focused with their go-to market team and strategy buildouts.  

Recently, I helped Helika as a fractional CMO to both build out BD and marketing teams, build out marketing strategy, event strategy, and played a core role in helping them rapidly scale to be the premier gaming analytics provider in web3.

Their clients include Yuga, TreasureDAO, Azra Games, and Proof of Play among others.

What do most B2B projects do wrong when it comes to go-to market?

The obvious mistake is not valuing the go-to market side of things enough.  I see this happen again and again with very technical founders.

Not going to go deep into it - but there’s a reason why Blu-Ray won out over HDDVD even though the latter was better tech.  Marketing and BD matters - it doesn't matter if your tech is better if no one knows about it.  Ultimately better tech + better go-to market is what you want to aim for.

The number two mistake is silo'ing BD and marketing.

What does this mean? Essentially treating them as separate departments with limited communication.

The job of marketing is to provide leads for BD to close AND make it easier for BD to close them.

This means both creating top of funnel content like blog posts, Twitter threads, and videos, as well as middle of funnel/bottom of funnel content like whitepapers, reports, and sales collateral.  

One of my clients struck a chord with me recently when he said, "I've never had marketing support like this before in my life." His previous position was at a very well known infra provider yet as the Head of BD, he felt isolated - like they had no help from marketing.  

I always combine marketing and BD under “Growth” with deep integrations between the two.  There should be tight feedback loops.

The Business Development lead and Marketing lead should work closely and have a joint weekly meeting where they share ideas with each other.  BD should tell the marketing team what the major pain points potential clients are dealing with, so marketing can create content around solving those pain points.  

At Helika, the marketing and BD team talk to each other pretty much every single day.  

That leads to my second point - which is that marketing should be used as a tool to generate leads for BD.  “Awareness” is nice but doesn’t pay the bills.  

Use Marketing to Build Key Connections and Generate Leads→

You want to use marketing to not only generate leads, but warm them up, and also re-engage them through the sales cycle. 

An example of this is our portfolio company GoGoPool, where they hold Avalanche ecosystem Twitter Spaces as a way to bring together major projects in that ecosystem.

This allows them to build warm relationships with these projects, then allowing their Head of BD to have a warm intro.

They also create content about other projects in the form of Twitter threads or Medium posts, thus getting GoGoPool on their radar.

There are three things projects appreciate:

1. Free traffic.

2. Nice things being said about them. 

3. Insights/useful recommendations.

We also used this strategy successfully with Helika. 

For example, this Treeverse thread resulted in a couple of top tier gaming studios reaching out to us to learn about our analytics product.  

Our whole approach with Helika is to create content about projects we’re working with or want to work with.

With projects we work with, it strengthens our bond and adds additional value to them. 

With projects that we want to work with, it allows us to form and strengthen relationships while demonstrating some of the data/insights that we are able to provide.  

Key Metrics to Track between Marketing and BD

1. Influential follows → There should be a spreadsheet of influential followers of our Twitter account.  This is a valuable resource for BD for outreach as they will see the DM in their main inbox.

2. Marketing Generated Leads per Week/Month →  Leads generated directly from marketing vs cold outreach from BD.   This could also be leads where marketing created a first touchpoint and then BD closed it.

   1. This should be broken down by sources → E.g Twitter Spaces, Podcasts, Medium etc.

3. Lead to sale conversion rate ->

   1. Split by generating channel and BD person

4. Lead generation rate by channel and by type of content created

I hope that was valuable, but it is only the tip of the iceberg! Shoot us a DM today and we can jump on a call to discuss taking your go-to-marketing strategy to the next level!

The combination of the two are what add rocket fuel to a project in this space.

A strong community is absolutely essential, but strong content is what attracts your first users.  This is a combination of creating the right narrative but also distributing that narrative in an effective and scalable manner.  

Coming into Builder, I was able to take lessons from building a content machine that generated multiple 7 figures in agency sales at my old business, and then start applying it to portfolio companies like GoGoPool and others.

Why Content Marketing?

Content marketing is incredibly effective in web 3.

Paid advertising is a strategy that is greeted with skepticism in web 3, not to mention Google and Facebook don’t allow paid advertising for most web 3 products.

Content allows you to build a strong community.  Consuming content is one of the best ways for your fans to build affinity to your brand.

Why Build a Content Machine

Content marketing requires a ton of effort and time, so why not get 3x out of it with just 20% more effort?

Here’s what I mean-

• If it takes you 40 hours to build a research brief on a topic like “Deep dive into Starknet’s Ecosystem”, it’ll likely take you 3-4 hours to write a Twitter thread about it.

• Most marketers stop at that, yet it’ll likely only take you a couple of hours to also turn that into a video on the topic (once you have the systems setup).

• And perhaps another hour to turn it into a Twitter thread.

• Oh, and since you have the video, why not turn it into 3-4 short Twitter format clips?

• And reuse those clips on TikTok?

At this point you’re probably saying, “Hey I don’t know how to edit videos and I have a crappy webcam”.

Yep, that’s the point of the content machine, you build a machine that takes care of that.

What Does a Content Machine Look Like?

To build a content machine you need these following mini-departments:

• Research.

• Editing

• Shooting 

• Editing 

• Design

That’s not to say you need to hire people for each of these, for example, I’m going to write, edit, and shoot all of the content I’m making for this topic.  However, I’ll have our video editor cut up the video and edit it, as well as make clips from it.  We’ll also have our designer create thumbnails for YouTube and more.That being said it’s important to think about all of these.

Let’s go through the process of this blog post and all the ways we’re going to use it:

• I will condense this into a Twitter thread.

• I will shoot a video on this topic with the help of my videographer.

• He will upload the raw file and our video editor will edit it.

• Our video editor will take the full video and also make 3-4 short clips out of the best moments for TikTok and Twitter.

• Our content manager will post the full video on YouTube, and the clips on Twitter and TikTok

• Our content manager will manage this whole process to ensure everyone’s doing their job and hitting deadlines.

That being said, I’ve squeezed out 4x more from my own time by leveraging our team’s resources to turn this into a video, clips, thread, and more…. 

And I’ll likely take this content and also host a Twitter Spaces around it.

How do You Build a Content Machine?

Start small - if you’re just doing twitter content, take your best performing posts and threads, and turn those into blog posts on medium. Once you’ve gotten the hang of it, add in more element, which could be a podcast, or a short video. 

• Find a video editor on Upwork who can help edit it, and if you’re shooting video you can simply use a quality webcam.  If you’re doing a podcast, pick up a blue yeti or lapel mic on Amazon and you should be set.

Cool, now you have a mini-content machine, with perhaps one person helping you out. You’ve already doubled the amount of content you create, with incremental cost. You’re also reaching people through multiple formats, after all, not everyone just likes to read.  Some people prefer podcasts, and some prefer videos. Now what does a scaleable content system look like?  (Like the system we built for GoGoPool)

In terms of output:

• 4 to 5 detailed Twitter threads a week, 2-3 posts a day, at least 4-5 Twitter clips a week.

• 1-2 Twitter Spaces/week.

• 1 podcast or long form video each week.

• 1-2 long form blog posts/Mediums per week.

Basically it’s constant content, being on top of everyone’s mind in your ecosystem, and having content available in whatever format people prefer to consume. This can lead to supercharged BD, growing your socials on multiple platforms, and a very strong and loyal community.  

What does this system look like in terms of people?

• Content Manager:  This person manages the content flow, and uses a system like Monday.com or Notion to create a content board and calendar that allows 

• Researcher:  This person does deep dives and creates deep briefs that can be used to create blog posts, videos, threads, etc.

• Writer/Editor: A great copywriter who can take that and turn it into format appropriate content.  

• The social guy: The video content creator and Twitter Spaces hype person who’s good on camera, does podcasts well, and is charismatic.  This person could be your community manager or even your writer, but if you’re doing written/audio content you want to make sure someone with a high energy is creating that! 

• Video Editor:  Can edit video, turn long form video into high energy clips, and more.

• Graphic designer:  You’ll want eye catching Twitter banners as well.

What does this look in terms of systems?

• Notion or Monday.com for managing content workflow and assigning tasks to people.

• SOPs/best practices for video editing.

• A dashboard to measure key KPIs and results of your content marketing efforts.

The end outcome of this is that your project is everywhere, and you can grow your socials faster, build a stronger community, and generate far more leads.  No matter what the type of business you run, a strong content marketing strategy will generate more attention, leads, and community members.

Do you want help setting up a content marketing machine? 

I’d love to jump on a call and share what we’ve learnt about hiring content marketers, editors and designers, and building these systems.  Feel free to book a call with us and we can share some tips with you!

Feel free to also reach out to us via twitter @buildervc!   

One of the biggest mistakes technical founders make is hiring the wrong CMO or lead marketer for their startup. This can inevitably lead to other projects gaining market share and leaving the superior product behind. As a technical founder, it’s your job to build a great marketing team and systems so you can win.

That’s why I wrote up this ultimate guide to hiring web 3 marketers.

I’ve based this on my experience both running a 7 figure a year performance marketing agency (where I hired over 20+ people in my career, for all types of roles), as well as my experience in crypto helping startups and protocols like Builder Capital, GoGoPool, Dymension, and The Bornless. If you want our help with building your team shoot us a DM on Twitter!

Common Marketing Roles in Web3:

CMO/Marketing Director

This is the person responsible for leading marketing strategy, managing your team, and hiring new superstars.  A good CMO will cost a pretty penny in either cash or equity, but can be absolutely game-changing.  They can literally be the difference between zero and hero.  A top level CMO could also lead BD strategy in a “Head of Growth” style role.  Hiring a CMO isn’t likely required in the very early stages of your project, but is essential as you start scaling and bringing your product to market.

Content Marketer

This is the person that keeps the content machine churning.  A great first hire if you’re on a budget, they should be great at creating written content, including Twitter.  It’s vital they’re crypto native, and I like to find existing content creators with a following and offer them a job (which they’re looking for in a bear market).   I aim to look for someone who's both charismatic and a good writer.  Usually a good fit with a CMO supervising them.

Marketing Manager

A mid-level jack of all trades.  The difference between a CMO and a marketing manager is that the CMO can build their own team out easily and has far more experience.  However, a Marketing manager should be able to manage contractors/employees.  I suggest either hiring a CMO or a marketing manager early on, but hiring both is overkill until you start scaling.

Community Manager

This can vary based on the project, but typically is someone who focuses on building trust and loyalty amongst your community which leads to retention and growth.  Someone who is able to create fun real-life and virtual events, and enjoys bringing people together is a good fit for this.  For more early-stage startups, the community manager is also a marketing manager/content marketer, etc.  Usually, these roles overlap quite a bit.  

Discord moderator

Discord mods are a relatively affordable, but overall important role. They are the first point of contact to your community. They need to learn and uphold your community values to ensure the overall health and well-being of your community. More experienced mods will also build and maintain bots in your server.

Video Editor 

Pretty self-explanatory but essential if you’re creating a ton of video content.  At Builder Capital, we have a full-time video editor to ensure we keep pushing out content on our Twitter and YouTube.  A part-time editor may be enough for your needs, and this is not an expensive role to fill.

Graphic Designer

Similar to video editors, most projects will only need a part-time graphic designer. That being said, I would invest in a higher-end designer to build out the brand book first, and then a more affordable designer that will follow the brand colors day to day.  Obviously, if you are well funded it may make sense to just hire a full-time designer who’s top-notch. GoGoPool is an example of a brand that’s doing design extremely well.

Content writer

Similar to content marketer but more specialized in the written word.  A “Threadoor” is an even more specialized role, which is someone who specializes in creating excellent Twitter threads.  

Define who you want to hire

Budget

You need to determine what your budget is.  If you’ve just raised a $1m pre-seed, it doesn’t make sense to hire more than 1 marketer (or just a combined BD/Marketer person) and then hire contractors as needed on a part-time basis.  On the other hand, if you’ve $6 to 7m, it makes sense to hire a heavy hitting CMO/Marketing director to start building a strong community and brand around the project.

Product Type 

If you’re building an infrastructure project that’s in stealth, you really don’t need to do any marketing very early on.  On the other hand, if you’re building a consumer facing Dapp, it makes sense to kick off growth asap, even pre-product.  As a general rule, web 3 games, B2C projects, L1s, and L2s are all projects where early community growth is essential, including for raising larger series A and B rounds.  Don’t be the founder that thinks marketing and BD doesn’t matter - As a VC I’ve seen many a hyped round that is successful despite poorer tech than competitors.  

Seed vs Series 

The earlier it is, the less you need marketing resources.  By Series A even more technical startups usually want to have a strong marketing function built out.

Brand 

The feel of your brand can also determine the hires you make.  If you’re a tech heavy infrastructure project, you may want to focus on hiring technical writers and developer relations people (versus a community manager).  On the other hand, if you’re a consumer NFT marketplace startup, hiring great Twitter threadors and video content creators makes sense.  

How to Create a Compelling Job Post

My view of hiring is that it’s a marketing funnel in many ways.  You want to attract the best candidates, and to do this you need both quality and quantity.  This starts with the job post, which is your landing page.  Most job posts do a horrible job of making people want to work at their startup, because they’re usually boring job descriptions.   

Define what’s unique about your company

What are you doing that’s different from every other startup and your competitors?  You want to emphasize that in your job description.

Strong hook

The first sentence should call out your ideal candidate based on what they’re passionate about and interested in.  E.g “Are you a marketer who truly believes in the original cypherpunk privacy vision and wants to make this a reality.”  

Tell them about your culture

Let them know what to expect in terms of culture.  Is it a hardcore tech focused startup with people who are crazy passionate about the end goal?  Or is it a work hard, play hard NFT startup where you degen into new NFT mints at work together.  This helps attract people who vibe with your culture.  

What’s in it for them.

Talk about the benefits, whether it be paid vacation leave, flexible hours, free Spotify, or even a co-working allowance.  Show them the benefits of working with you.

Clear qualifications and nice-to haves.

Understand the difference between the two and clearly define them.

How to find them

Use your own socials

Make sure to post your job post in your own Twitter/Discord project.  Your own community is going to have the people who are most passionate about working with you!

Web 3 job boards

There are a variety of free and paid web 3 job boards where we post our jobs which lead to some solid inflow.  Here’s the list: 

Free job boards:

• Grackle HQ

• Jobs3

• The Product House

• RooTroop

• Jobs OffChain Global (Telegram Group)

Paid job boards:

• Web3 Career ($199)

• Bankless ($750-$950)

• Not Boring Pallet ($250-$1000)

• DeFi Edge (Up to $1000)

Gaming Job Boards (For web 3 games):

• Games-Career ($95+tax)

• Hitmarker ($50+)

• Games Industry ($320)

• Serious Games Jobs ($50+)

• r/gameDevClassifieds (Free)

Recruiters

A more expensive but solid option.  Usually, they charge 20-25% of the first year's base salary.  They can be great as a supplemental source, where if they refer someone truly excellent, it’s worth the fee.  Also, usually, they have a 3-month period if the candidate doesn’t work out, they’ll refund the placement fee.

Events/conferences

Don’t underestimate the importance of meeting people face to face.  I’ve personally sourced some really great candidates at conferences, or through friends of people I’ve met at conferences.  In person events in crypto have a very high ROI both in terms of business development as well as finding excellent people to bring onto your team.  I credit this to how community focused crypto is and how strong of a “us” mentality there is in crypto (The rest of the world thinks we’re crazy).

The interview funnel

Interview # 1 

The first interview is to get a feel for their background, experience, and salary expectations.  Usually around 20-30 minutes long.   You will disqualify 60-70% of candidates at this stage.  

Paid task

For candidates who we like, we’ll set them up with a paid task depending on the role we’re hiring for.  For example, if we are hiring for a content marketer, we’ll have them make a few types of content (Twitter thread, video, long-form blog post) for the portfolio company we’re hiring for.  This gives us a real life way to test their skillset. We always pay people for these tasks as they require a fair bit of time.  

Interview # 2

At this point, you like their paid task, and you go into another in-depth interview.  This is where salary negotiations typically happen.  You want to dive DEEP into past work experiences, ask for at least one reference that you can talk to, and really try to vet for any potential red flags.

Team Interview

If there are still doubts, you can do a full-team interview where everyone who will be working with the new hire can ask their own questions.  This is a great way to double-check the culture fit with your existing team members.  Also, your team will likely ask questions you didn’t think of asking.

1 Month Trial Engagement

I like to start with a 1 month contract before hiring a full-time role.  This keeps it easy and simple for everyone, and de-risks it for your company as well.  By one month it’s either a “Fuck yes” or a “No”.  If it’s somewhere in the middle they’re likely not the right fit.  If you have to think more than a few seconds about the decision, it likely means they’re not a great fit for your company.

I hope you enjoyed that long read on how to hire web 3 marketers!  This is the same process we follow for Builder Capital, as well as for portfolio companies like GoGoPool, Elemental Raiders, Helika, and others!  

If you’re looking for help with hiring web 3 marketers or building a web 3 marketing machine, please shoot us a DM on Twitter!  We’re happy to jump on a call and help you think through some ways you can set this up for your project.